Radio showmanship (Sept 1940-May 1941)

. CHRISTMAS PROMOTIONS To help you get the most out of radio in the peak retail buying months, here is a collection of successful merchandising stunts used last Christmas in a variety of business fields. Civic CHRISTMAS PROMOTION On its toes is the Merchant's division of the Ashtabula, Ohio (pop. 23,301), Chamber of Commerce. This past year bustling members raised a sum of money, labeled it Christmas Advertising. Late in November station WICA begins a series of weekly programs featuring musical organizations of the community in and around Ashtabula, plugging local shopping facilities. Program music will be recorded, used in a public address system truck that will tour Ashtabula streets twice daily during the Christmas shopping season. Peak of the undertaking will be mammoth parade of rubber figures, floats, in the Macy (New York) manner, on Thursday, December 5. Adding spice, WICA will run spot campaigns boosting individual sponsors and general movement. Stores will pitch in with individual window displays, etc. AIR FAX: Station: WICA, Ashtabula, Ohio. Power: 230 watts. Population: 23,301. COMMENT: Close cooperation of Ashtabula merchants, musical organizations, and radio station illustrates model application of Yuletide spirit to business. Similar promotion in your town will aid materially in boosting December sales, create immeasurable good Photography (Others) SANTA CLAUS Almost alike in essence are flic L'rrat majority of Santa Clans programs aired at Christmas time. Interesting, then, 11 the variation on the theme. At station KBND (Bend, Ore.) this Yulctide participation (10 sponsors) show differs only because of sound effects. Method: Santa and the ;in nouncei have quite a time of it keeping the rrmilcrr quiet. After their long ride from the North Pole and their mu onventional en trance through the radio station window (a . set by WOrda at the start of the hro.ul Cast), the\ are in no mood to he silent just because I little red Light i> <>n in the studio. Noises of bells and reindeer are therefore woven into the background of the show, adding the all-important atmosphere that makes the program different. Program is sold on a cooperative basis, with commercials interspersed between letter-reading. Santa read some 1,000 letters before December 25th in '39. Only promotion previous to program was daily plugs on the air. AIR FAX: Santa Claus (a disguised voice) read mail received from the children of Central Oregon. Letters, setting forth what the listeners wanted for Christmas, were addressed to Santa Claus, care of KBND. Show began one month preceding Christmas. Broadcast Schedule: Monday thru Saturday, 5:005:30 P.M. Preceded By: Popular Music. Followed By: News. Sponsor: De Dunce Photo Studio. (Others: Silhouette Dress Shop, Economy Food Market, Toddler's Shop, Baldwin Piano Co., etc.) Station: KBND, Bend, Ore. Power: 250 watts. Population: 8,848. COMMENT: As illustrated by the results various sponsors received from the Pinocchio show (Radio Showmanship, Sept., pp. 11), often the stunts and twists are as important as the show itself. The comic by-play in station KBND's Santa Clans program no doubt had no small part in bringing in those thousand letters in one month. Department Stores SANTA CLAUS Variation No. 2: At station WHIG in Greensboro, N. C, Santa Claus does not come down from the North Pole each day to speak to his junior listeners. In his northern workshop he remains, while moppets come (loan to the station to send messages to him over the air. (In actuality, Santa is in the back studio with remote equipment set up so that he can both hear and talk to the hoys anil girls.) One child at a tune is called up to the microphone to say "hello" to Santa Glaus, tell him what he would like tor Christmas. Starting as a 15minute spot at Christmas time six years ago, program was extended to halt an hour and then to three quarters of an hour. In spite of its increased length, it was still necessary 104 RADIO SHOWMANSHIP